Cancer, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and many other diseases are complex problems based on evolving systems—a combination of constantly-changing factors that encompass a range of solutions, probabilities not certainties, compounding effects, infinite interrelatedness, and sheer randomness. Obesity, for example, can be caused by a mixture of genetic, social, psychological, and environmental factors over time, which will likely never be “cured” by a magic pill or a shot in the arm.
What is needed to address evolving system problems is the transformation of people's mental models—the constructs and assumptions used to guide decision-making over a long period of time. Individuals with poor mental models often believe that they are invincible, have “good genes”, or only need to think about health when they are sick. They may, for example, make bad decisions about diet, exercise, sleep, and smoking every day—and over years, develop life-threatening medical problems.
People with good mental models enjoy the compound effect of their good decisions. The present invention is designed based on a positive, evidence-based and health-behavior mental model: the personal and informed decision mental model. The invention guides health and medical-related decision-making by aggregating critical information about the past, present, and future in a personalized, engaging, and interactive way.